Following an uproar by the student body at Gustavus Adolphus College over the appearance of posters telling students that America is a white nation, a liberal diversity group has admitted responsibility for the posters.

The Diversity Leadership Council (DLC) at Gustavus Adolphus College, a group of over 20 student organizations that advocate for diversity initiatives on campus, admitted to posting the flyers “in an effort to help educate our peers and campus community about issues of bias,” the group said in a statement.

The signs contained provocative messages such as telling white Americans that it was their “civic duty to report any and all illegal aliens to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement,” and that “America is a White Nation.”

Unsurprisingly, many students expressed shock and anger at the existence of such posters, ad reported them immediately to university officials. In response to one student, Dean of Students JoNes VanHecke said that the posters were part of “a series of educational invisible theatre events taking place this week” and also that this “is NOT a hate/bias incident.”

After the DLC issued a public statement on Facebook clarifying their reasoning for posting the racist flyers, many students responded with comments mocking the organization for the its publicity stunt.

“Sometimes I walk around crowded theaters yelling, ‘fire!’,” said one student. “I do it because I want to create awareness, thus no punishment is warranted.”

Earlier thismonth, fliers that were nearly identical to these appeared on the campus of University of Maryland- College Park. The posters featured the same message and also included a phone number to a hotline for people to report illegal immigrants. It is unclear who posted the flyers at UM, but the University President was quick to condemn them, unlike the leadership at Gustavus Adolphus College.

“The white nationalist posters found on college campuses, including our own, contain detestable language that is an affront to who we are, and what we stand for, as the State’s flagship university,” said UM President Wallace D. Loh. “As a community, we stand for excellence, diversity, and inclusion. We stand against all forms of ignorance and hate.”

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Born and raised in New York, John is a graduate of Canisius College and Georgia Southern University. He interned for Red Alert Politics during the summer of 2012 and now works as a contributor to the site. Catch him on Twitter @john_pat_rick